Jocelyn Riley, Writer/Producer Her Own Words, LLC

Jocelyn Riley of Madison, Wisconsin, has been producing media programs and resource guides celebrating women’s history since 1986. “My approach is to let women tell their own stories in their own words and, in the case of contemporary women, in their own voices,” Riley says. “I don’t use narrators, pundits, or commentators to tell the audience what to think about what they’re hearing and seeing. The audience is free to connect their own lives with those of the women in these programs.” 

Riley’s work has been recognized by the State of Wisconsin with the 2018 Governor’s Trailblazer Award for Women in Business. Her Own Words® programs have won many national awards, including the Write Women Back into History award from the National Women's History project, the Barb Landers Memorial Award from the Association for Gender Equity Leadership in Education, a Selected Films and Videos for Young Adults award from the American Library Association, and a Gold Medal from the International Film and Video Festival of New York. Read the essay Jocelyn contributed to the 2020 publication Many Facets: America’s Women Commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the 19th Amendment.

Materials from the Her Own Words® catalog are used all over the country as part of programs at career-counseling centers, libraries, museums, schools, and colleges; they are frequently used as part of career-exploration days and Women's History Month celebrations.

Riley has a B.A. degree from Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, and earned a GCDF (Global Career Development Facilitator) certification from the Center on Education and Work, University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Her Own Words® also produces media programs, resource guides, career cards and posters that highlight women in nontraditional careers. This series can be found at NontraditionalCareers.com.